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The Church of St Nicholas
The Church of St Nicholas was founded in
1140 and, as noted in the church guide:
‘the tower and north aisle
are thought to date from this period. All
except the tower and north aisle were
rebuilt to be as it appears today. This
rebuilding was undertaken in 1782, because
the whole church except the tower and
Trinity Aisle being very damp and ruinous
was taken down, by a faculty and a new one
erected in the same year at a cost of £730’.
The Trinity Aisle may once have been a
family chantry chapel and contains many
effigies and tombs of the lords of the manor
since the 12th century. Of particular note
is the tomb of Hugo Mavesyn, founder of the
church and of Blithbury Priory, dated to the
late 1100s and forming an integral part of
the north wall. The tomb of Sir Henry
Mavesyn, the crusader, is also in this
aisle.
Sir Robert Mavesyn is buried in a tomb in
the Chapel. A translation of the Latin
inscription states, ‘Here lies Robert
Mavesyn, who was slain at Shrewsbury 1403,
standing with the King and fighting by his
side even unto death. On whose soul may God
have mercy.’
Until the early part of the twentieth
century, the church was plastered and
whitewashed. For reasons that are not known,
the walls were stripped to leave them as
they are today. Electricity was brought to
the church in 1937.
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